Is BeagleBone Black a microcontroller or computer?

Question

I started working on BeagleBone Black, and I cannot find out whether BeagleBone is a microcontroller, or some kind of computer? If computer, what makes it a computer?

I worked on different Cortex-M microcontrollers, but I am not sure what BeagleBone really is.

It uses Cortex-A8 processor. Is that enough to make it a computer? — sharptooth, Jul 29 '15 at 14:22

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 29 '15 at 18:29

11

The BeagleBone Black is a single-board computer (SBC).

It contains a AM335x ARM® Cortex-A8 which is a microprocessor (not microcontroller) with some peripherals, including two 32-bit 200 MHz co-processors intended for real-time processing.

The distinction between microcontroller and microprocessor is that the program memory and peripherals are typically external to the latter, though the distinction has faded somewhat in modern times as some processors have many peripherals on board and external memory buses which may or may not be used.

edited Jul 29 '15 at 18:29

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 29 '15 at 14:23

Spehro Pefhany

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@EugeneSh. Perhaps more of an old-fashioned distinction. Edited. – Spehro Pefhany Jul 29 '15 at 14:29
There were a lot. I stayed away from 8085 (used Motorola's line) but did some 8051/8031 and even 8048 (lol dating myself). – Spehro Pefhany Jul 29 '15 at 14:35
That's it! 8051. Sorry for the confusion. – Eugene Sh. Jul 29 '15 at 14:35
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It is correct that the main processor is classified as a SBC. However, it does also contain 2 realtime microcontrollers and one Cortex-M3 microcontroller for power management. – jpa Jul 29 '15 at 15:06
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The populated printed-circuit board is the SBC. The main processor is just a processor (or set of processors, in reality). It's a chip, not a board. – Spehro Pefhany Jul 29 '15 at 16:09

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 29 '15 at 14:23

BBB is a computing platform, having a TI Sitara AM335X microprocessor on board, which is ARM Cortex-A8 core. While according to ARM processors classification, are intended for general computing applications as opposed to ARM Cortex-M series, which are intended for microcontroller applications.

MathieuL · Answer 3 · 2015-07-30T16:11:06.270

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BeagleBone Black is a microcomputer. Mostly because it runs a processor, Sitara ARM Cortex M8, and one of the main features of the board is that it can run Linux.

If you go on the Texas Instruments site in the Sitarra section, you will see that most people programming this board interface the board with Linux shells. Isn't that enough proof that it is a computer?

edited Jul 30 '15 at 16:11

answered Jul 29 '15 at 14:24

MathieuL

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 21 '15 at 11:54

Traditionaly there was a split between microprocessors which are designed to drive a bus system with memory and perhipherals and microcontrollers which have processor, perhipherals and memory on one chip.

More recently chips like the ones on the Pi and beaglebone have appeared. These have the core perhipherals on the chip like a microcontroller but unlike a microcontroller they use external memory. The industry calls these chips "SOCs" (which stands for system-on-chip, a name I find somewhat puzzling since an important component of the system is not on the chip).

Is BeagleBone Black a microcontroller or computer?

4 Answers4